Full permissions between three pc's - two Win10 & one Win7 - but no other pc's on network?

Halo Diehards · Oct 20, 2017

I have two Windows 10 pc's, and one Windows 7 pc, and I want to have full access and permissions between all of them. I do not want anyone else who connects to my router to be able to even see what is on any of my three pc's.

Is there a way to do this?

Edit: I can already access all with full permissions, I need to make it so no other pc's can.

Edit2: Whoops, I see there is a Networking forum, feel free to move this there...

SoggyTissue · Oct 20, 2017

cant remember much networking, but im sure this is accomplished by having your computers sitting with-in a dmz

https://www.cisco.com/assets/sol/sb/isa500_emulator/help/guide/ad1681599.html

wait for a network guy to enlighten you ^^

bjornl · Oct 20, 2017

The best way is to get a domain controller and have them join that domain.
You can also do this with a just a workgroup.
Just put them in the same workgroup and physically on the same network (or learn about inter-vlan routing).
Then follow this:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17145/windows-homegroup-from-start-to-finish

To test your security, have one PC which is not in your group and do some penetration testing to see what to harden.

Halo Diehards · Oct 20, 2017

@SoggyTissue I checked out that page, and it's greek to me. I know about setting up an Xbox to a DMZ to stop ports from clogging up the to and fro connection, but other than that, those diagrams just don't make any sense to me.

@bjornl, I'm setting up a HomeGroup again right now, to figure out why that didn't work for me, because I can't remember (been at this for over a year, off and on). What do you mean by "physically on the same network"?

As I was accessing all of my pc's, my Win10 laptop asked me for Network Credentials (it's never done that before, but I hadn't used it to access my other pc's in some time), it wanted me to log in to access the network. What is this, and why can't I just use it to prevent others from getting into my other computers?

bjornl · Oct 20, 2017

Some people think that putting a couple of switches in to a router and having the switches provide dhcp that a PC on either switch is on the same network.
Others do the same but they introduce WiFi.... wired PCs go straight to a router. Wireless ones got to an AP with DHCP enabled. In both these two scenarios the PCs are on separate VLANs and networking them together is going to be beyond what your typical home user can manage.

Depending on how you set it up, the local user account with the same spelling (including capitalization) and with the same password can potentially let you access files between PCs even if there was some security in place. If it is setup correctly it will always ask you for user name and password. If you are on PC1 as bob and want to login to PC2 as bob. Then you login to PC1 as pc1\bob PW:doug then you connect to PC2 which also has a bob account and the PW is also doug, then you should be asked to connect as PC2\bob PW:doug because while the user name and PW are the same those PCs are not in a domain and the accounts are therefore local accounts and PC1 can not authenticate PC2's users.

Halo Diehards · Oct 20, 2017

Kk, just to be clear and if it can simplify my options: my pc's are at home, and my isp does not want me messing with the router, so I'm just trying to do this via settings in Windows software.

I'm still trying to research Credentials Manager at the moment, because it *looks like it could be used to accomplish what I'm going for, but I'm not grasping what exactly it is.

bjornl · Oct 20, 2017

Credential manager stores login info such as pc2\user PW info for your connection from PC1.

t53186 · Oct 20, 2017

Most straightforward way for home use is get rid of the home group. make a user account (universal account) on all three computers with the same name and password. Disable all sharing, Use RDP to connect to the other machines. If you want shared folders, change the sharing permissions to only give the universal account access to each folder. You can them map the shared folders to have visibility at all times.

Halo Diehards · Oct 20, 2017

t53186 :

Great suggestion, however when I first was trying to set all this up over a year ago, one of the first issues I ran into is that you cannot do this with a Win7 across to a Win10.

Unrelated, but related to my trying once again to mess about with HomeGroups, I have literally spent an hour and a half trying to set one up to even test. My Win7 pc thinks a HomeGroup I deleted awhile back still exists, so it won't join or create another one because the deleted HomeGroup's password retrieve loops me back to, wait for it... trying to get me to join a HomeGroup. I can't redelete the HomeGroup, because not only does it not exist, the HomeGroup troubleshoot confirms it, then loops me back to... you guessed it, offering for me to join the deleted HomeGroup. Apparently, this glitch has been around for years and has yet to be fixed. My Win10 laptop (wi-fi) has no option to set it to Private, so it won't join a HomeGroup either: there is no "Make this PC discoverable" ANYWHERE, as explained in all of the "how-to's" I've followed on where to find it. I've followed three. No, I'm not making a mistake in any of the instructions, they're absolutely uncomplicated, lol. For the life of me I don't understand why the Public/Private toggle wouldn't be on the same page as where you configure your public and private options, or at least a link! Seems logical to me.

So now I'm off to try and create a WorkGroup, as suggested by someone else who had this HomeGroup glitch. So. Frustrated.

t53186 · Oct 23, 2017

Hmm, if it did not work either the setup needs to be checked or RDP is not enabled.

Halo Diehards · Oct 23, 2017

t53186 :

I Googled RDP and learned about RDC. I wasn't aware of this funcionality, and am going to go research that now. It may be the answer to my conundrum! What I was referring to wasn't RDC, but another way of connecting Windows PC's that doesn't work between Win10 and Win7, but I can't remember the term at the moment. The problem I may run into with RDC, is I want to be able to access any of the three PC's I have from any other one, and I'm not sure if it will work for that? If you can only RDC into one PC at a time, it's not my solution.

On the other issue I mentioned above (in case someone runs into this in a search), if a pc is stuck in a HomeGroup that does not exist, what worked for me was to power all of the pc's off (since the other ones were only offered that non-existent one as well) then boot one up and create a HomeGroup with it. Once the "real" one is created, boot up the one that had the deleted one and it will then allow you to join the new one. So far so good on that.

t53186 · Oct 25, 2017

You can create multiple remote desktop connections to simultaneously access the entire PC, all drives all folders, and all operating systems that support it. Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, server 2003,2008,2012. You can also access individual folders by granting sharine permissions to yourself.

It works slick, I use it hear at home to access 4 PC's and use a VPN connection to tunnel in and connect to any of our work servers.

Halo Diehards · Oct 31, 2017

t53186 :

Have a chance today to get back at this. Just to be clear: are you saying that you can read and write to all of your files across all four of your pc's? If so, then this is exactly what I'm looking for!

bjornl · Oct 31, 2017

Have you considered upgrading the Windows 7 PC to Windows 10? I suspect it would be easier for you to work out if they were on the same OS as the built in Wizards in Win10 would probably get it done for you.
You can still get Window 10 for free if you say you use assistive technologies. Microsoft is very liberal in what it calls assistive tech and so most qualify. For example the Ctrl + Alt + scroll to adjust your "zoom" in chrome or IE.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade

Halo Diehards · Oct 31, 2017

bjornl :

Thank you for the suggestion. That would be fantastic - - if it were possible! If all are Win10, you can use the same Windows user account to access all three. Unfortunately, the reason my Win7 is Win7 is because it is an older PC and not able to upgrade. I use it a ton though, especially if I'm rendering something on my main or using another performance hogging application. I'm constantly accessing files between the two, whether I'm pulling over a video to upload to Youtube onto the Win7, or downloading ideas for graphics on the Win7 to pull over to the Win10 for later.

t53186 · Oct 31, 2017

Halo Diehards :

t53186 :

Have a chance today to get back at this. Just to be clear: are you saying that you can read and write to all of your files across all four of your pc's? If so, then this is exactly what I'm looking for!

Yes that is exactly what I am saying

Halo Diehards · Oct 31, 2017

t53186 :

Halo Diehards :

Yes that is exactly what I am saying

Thanks! I will definitely set this up.

t53186 · Oct 31, 2017

Halo Diehards :

t53186 :

Thanks! I will definitely set this up.

Let me know if you run into any snags, glad to assist

Full permissions between three pc's - two Win10 & one Win7 - but no other pc's on network?

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